There wasn’t much in the way of new content in today’s not-so-major speech from the president, but there was one new talking point. Since it was the only original point, it’s generated all the media attention.
“Overall, the United States and our partners have disrupted at least ten serious al Qaeda terrorist plots since September the 11th, including three al Qaeda plots to attack inside the United States.”
Sounds great, right? There may have been massive intelligence failures before and after 9/11, but at least we’ve made enough progress to disrupt 10 “serious plots” since.
Or maybe not. Scott McClellan, following up on the president’s claim, explained that some of these “10” are already publicly known — and don’t exactly qualify as “serious al Qaeda terrorist plots.” Think Progress offered a short scorecard, reviewing what we know about the 10 incidents.
1. Jose Padilla. “Paul Wolfowitz, Mr. Rumsfeld’s deputy, stressed on Monday that ‘there was not an actual plan’ to set off a radioactive device in America and Padilla had not begun trying to acquire materials. Intelligence officials said his research had not gone beyond surfing the internet.” Since being detained in O’Hare airport in 2002, Padilla has not been charged with any crime or permitted to talk to a lawyer. [Daily Telegraph, 12/06/02; Washington Post, 9/10/05]
2. Iyman Faris. Faris was an Ohio truck driver who pleaded guilty in June 2003 to two felony charges of supporting a foreign terrorist organization. He was charged with plotting to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, but U.S. officials admitted that Faris had abandoned the plot because he deemed it unlikely to succeed. “After scouting the bridge and deciding its security and structure meant the plot was unlikely to succeed, he passed along a message to al Qaeda in early 2003 that said ‘the weather is too hot.'” [CNN, 6/19/03]
3-10: Classified.
To recap: One three-year old arrest in a case where no charges have been filed, one two-year old arrest related to a plot that was already abandoned and eight “incidents” the administration won’t tell us anything about.
This isn’t a subject in which the president has credibility to spare. Remember during the presidential campaign? Half-way through 2004, Bush claimed that “two-thirds” of al Queda’s leaders had been taken out. By October, Bush had bumped it up to “75%.” It turns out the White House made up the number out of whole cloth and an official with the 9/11 Commission said “it was pulled out of somebody’s orifice.”
Now Bush wants us to believe we’ve had success repeatedly breaking up al Qaeda plots? He’s under the mistaken impression that he’s given Americans reason to trust his word on the subject.